From the Texas Tribune: After decades of broken promises, a Texas “donut hole” community will get running water

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. . . Cochran is one of over 2,000 colonias along the U.S.-Mexico border, according to a 2015 report by the Rural Community Assistance Partnership. About 840,000 people live in these substandard housing developments, including over 134,000 that are not served by public water systems, waste treatment facilities or both. The vast majority of residents in colonias are Latino. Nearly two-thirds of adults and 94% of children and adolescents living in these communities are U.S. citizens, according to a report by DigDeep.

In many cases, the colonias are unincorporated “donut holes” – islands of scarcity surrounded by communities where clean running water is taken for granted.

“Some smaller colonias are still these no-man’s lands where services might be just a few blocks from the edge of the colonia yet they’ve never been hooked up,” said DigDeep CEO George McGraw. “That’s what we call a ‘donut hole.’ They sit there in plain sight.”

In 2021, Congress allocated $30 million to the U.S.-Mexico Border Water Infrastructure Program of the Environmental Protection Agency — an improvement over recent years that still pales in comparison to funding from decades past. Congressional financing for EPA programs on the border peaked at $100 million to $150 million from 1996 to 2001 but dwindled to $15 million by 2014. The Trump administration proposed to eliminate funding for the U.S.-Mexico border program altogether.

Terms:

running water
Cochran
El Paso County
Mexican American families
water district meetings
water lines
nonprofit human rights group DigDeep
local officials
Texas-based nonprofit
2,000 colonias along the U.S.-Mexico border
a 2015 report
Rural Community Assistance Partnership
substandard housing developments
public water systems
waste treatment facilities
unincorporated
In 2021, Congress allocated $30 million
U.S.-Mexico Border Water Infrastructure Program
Environmental Protection Agency
immigration detention center
developers
the Texas Legislature
enacted a series of bills
poor economic development controls
structural racism.”
marginalized communities
water scarcity
reservations
rural communities of color,
agricultural communities
basic utilities
fires
fire truck
fire hydrant
water-borne illnesses,
diabetes
water and sanitation systems,
placing meters and hydrants
societal infrastructure
border cities
upward population growth,